Weddings and marriage are linked so strongly because you cannot have one without the other. But as the wedding day nears, the marriage takes a backseat, but is by no means forgotten. In order to fully examine the matrix of issues regarding the issue, the institution of marriage must be analyzed for its desirability and allure.
There is a legal and political battle that currently brings wedding and marriage to the forefront nearly constantly. There are those fighting for their right to marry, to have weddings. It has been argued that marriage is a basic human right, and there is lots of evidence supporting the benefits of marriage. After all, married people have higher survival rates, fewer physical problems and a lower risk of deaths from harmful behaviors. These statistics apply to men and women. There have also been proven links with greater mental health for married couples, and greater happiness in life is reported by those who are married. Relationship quality has also been established to be better for married couples than couples who cohabit [1]. These facts have been thrown about for years now, and while people rarely get married on the premise that they will live longer, those who are single may think about these benefits of more economic stability and a desire for love and support, which would be provided by marriage.
There are other economic benefits for marriages. Tax breaks for married couples are extremely tempting for older couples. The largest percentage of marriages occurred for men and women aged between 25 to 34 years (43.9% and 41.8%, respectively), although the next largest group was the youngest age range at 15 to 24 years (19.5% and 27.9%, respectively). From this data, it can be seen that women are more likely to marry at a younger age, as 36.6% of men married were over 35, while only 30.3% of women married in 2009 were over thirty-five. Furthermore, 55.7% of men and 59.6% of women married had family incomes over $50,000 per year [2]. The marriage has definitely evolved since its inception. Today, it no longer typically “marks the ‘birth’ of a new couple, since more first marriages are preceded with premarital co-habitation than not (approximately 64%) [3]”
Most couples don’t spuriously decide to get married. Typically, the wedding is preceded by an engagement period, and has been since ancient Egypt. This period was given to couples to evaluate their compatability [4]. This period is typically initiated by the giving of a ring, most notably a diamond ring. The diamond engagement ring was first given in the fifteenth century, but they did not become extremely popular until the 1930s after an advertisement campaign by De Beers, a controlling family in diamonds. To demonstrate the effects of advertisements on the wedding process, a case study of Japanese women proves how much advertising affects a bride’s consumption. In 1968, less than 5% of Japanese women had a diamond engagement ring and by 1981, almost 60% of Japanese women had bought into De Beers’ campaign of their product denoting everlasting love [5]. This malleability of bridal customs has helped contribute to the “recession-proof” industry of weddings. In the pursuit of rings and other trinkets, the ecological and economic impacts on the nations producing these diamonds are often ignored. In Canada, the Ekati diamond mine area has seen the loss of fish and wildlife habitats 200 kilometers downstream. There is also a significant production of greenhouse gases produced from gasoline burning used in the extraction of these valuable rocks. The Canadians have also suffered social strain from the diamond mines in their country in the form of migrant workers, increased substance abuse and family violence and disrupted social patterns from the irregular work hours [6]. Further away from home, there are several African nations that supply the now infamous “blood diamonds.” Aside from the economic impacts of funding rebels, the wealth of diamonds in countries such as Sierra Leone do little to alleviate the crippling poverty experience by natives. These blood diamond networks are far-reaching, and provide a route for money laundering and terrorist groups, and little has been done to bring the revenues legally produced to the people. An analysis of two such communities found that the populations shifted agricultural patterns to feed miners and that 31% of the population felt that mining such diamonds is a gamble for the community, 10% felt that mining reduced their farm labor and 11% felt that mining was degrading farm plots [7]. In the process of separating and purifying gold for the bands, chemicals such as mercury and cyanide are used [8]. Thoughts of such things are usually far from a man’s mind when purchasing a token to prove his love.
After accepting the engagement ring, the bride is caught up in a flurry of activity. A million details begin vying for the up-coming bride’s attention, and even more aggressively, the media. After all, weddings sell. In April, 2 billion people tuned their televisions to the coverage of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding [9]. Furthermore, bridal magazines specifically cater to designing the whims of brides-to-be. Entire shows such as “Say Yes to the Dress” chronicle the selection of a wedding gown, others such as “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding” chronicle the extravagant weddings of a gypsy subculture in England. The wedding in this scenario is the only event in a young woman’s life where she can fully express all of her fantasies. While the average wedding is not nearly as opulent, the average cost of an American wedding is $28,082, with the average dress costing $1,289 [10]. In addition to these costs, the happy couple puts in requests for items in a bridal registry, items they feel they will need in their new home, and anything is up for grabs. Such choices are often influence by ads that create a “schema for items appropriate for the bridal registry [5].” Sharon Boden also concluded that “the popular media and its depictions of appropriate and inappropriate wedding consumption heavily influence the wedding industry and the demands of consumers [3].” An example of this was an ad creating an image of these wants with china, picture frames, crystal and silverware, but then completing itself by “expand[ing] the bridal registry constellation by suggesting that electronics, sporting goods and tools be included. That suggestion may not only redirect the wedding gift preferences…but also simultaneously [affirm] the appropriateness of such gifts in the registry [5].” Then there is a reception for the wedding guests and party, with entertainment. There are cut flowers, which have an ecologic impact on the areas they are grown. Demand for these flowers requires them to be grown in climates around the world, where they use valuable resources and water that could be used in crop production for those local areas. Furthermore, these flowers have a high maintenance cost as they are transported long distances to the bridal bouquet. The wedding is supposed to be the bride’s event of a lifetime, but of couples married in 2009, 30% of them were remarried [2].
After all of the hullabaloo dies down, the honeymoon can begin. 99% of couples with a traditional wedding choose to go on a honeymoon. 63% of these honeymoons are to foreign locales, and 76% of honeymoons require airplane travel and 76.5% require car travel [11]. These are unsustainable methods of transportation. The honeymoon is an indulgence that many use in lieu of a vacation, but if Americans practiced a more leisurely lifestyle for enjoying time with others, the honeymoon would not be seen as such an escape.
Finally, the cultural expectations of a wedding create the couple’s need to demonstrate the potential affluence of a couple or the final expression of childish dreams of the perfect wedding. The wedding is by nature a social and familial event, which is not something many people are willing to compromise on. Marriage is a long standing tradition in almost every culture and religion, but this doesn’t mean that the practice must be equated with indulgence, money, and ridiculous expectations. Women should not be encouraged to forget about the long-term implications for a marriage for the sake of having their dream wedding. This grandiose and elaborate wedding trifecta of engagement rings, honeymooning and the wedding needs to be abandoned in favor of smaller scale weddings and lower-budget tokens of love.
[1] Waite, Linda J. and Evelyn L Lehrer. “The Benefits from Marriage and Religion in the United States: A Comparative Analysis.” Population and Development Review: Volume 29, Number 2, June 2003. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3115227?seq=4
[2] Elliot, Diana B. and Tavia Simmons. “Marital Events of Americans: 2009” American Community Survey Reports: August 2011. < http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acs-13.pdf>
[3] Boden, Sharon. “’Superbrides’: Wedding Consumer Culture and the Construction of Bridal Identity.” Sociological Research Online, volume 6, number 1. http://socresonline.org.uk/6/1/boden.html
[4] Jacks, Matt. “The History of Weddings – Tying the Knot through the Ages.” TheHistoryOf.net: 11 September 2008. <http://www.thehistoryof.net/history-of-weddings.html>
[5] Otnes, Cele and Linda M. Scott. “Something Old, Something New: Exploring the Interaction Between Ritual and Advertising.”
[6] “Diamonds and Sustainable Development?” Canadian Arctic Resources Committee, 2010. http://www.carc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92:diamonds-and-sustainable-development&catid=41:mining-and-sustainability&Itemid=153’
[7] Maconachie, Roy and Tony Binns. “Beyond the Resource Curse? Diamond Mining, Development and Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Sierra Leone. Resources Policy, Volume 32, Issue 3, September 2007. http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy.rpi.edu/science/article/pii/S0301420707000347
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials? Roy works at the University of Bath, has written “Post-Conflict reconstruction and Rebuilding Institutions and Rural Livelihoods in the Eastern Province, Sierra Leone,” “Decentralization, Institutions and Wetland Management in Sierra Leone,” and so on. Wrote a book called “Urban Growth and Land Degradation in Developing Cities: Change and Challenges in Kano, Nigeria.” For more information that I’m not willing to type up because he’s written a lot, visit: http://www.bath.ac.uk/soc-pol/people/rmaconachie.html Tony is also a publishing fiend, having published over 100 papers and worked on 17 books, listed here: http://www.geography.otago.ac.nz/people/academic/tony_binns/tony_binns_-_publications. He works at the University of Otago in New Zealand.
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text? Diamond mining can hurt the development of countries, particularly in Africa, specifically in Sierra Leone.
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out. Begins with distribution of resources in nations and how it applies to the diamonds in Sierra Leone
Explains a process of diamond extraction known as the Kimberley process and how the benefits could apply to rebuilding the structure and alleviating economic strain.
Was a site of “conflict diamonds.”
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text? “In considering how diamonds and their trade might be better harnessed for poverty reduction, economic growth and social development, it is vital to remember that policies which regulate diamond extraction and governance often produce highly uneven impacts, with enormous wealth and desperate poverty in precisely the same locations.”
“The other main link between diamonds and agriculture that was reported to have remained largely unchanged since the 1970s was the strong nexus of seasonal work between farming and mining and the associated population mobility. In Panguma, 42% of households surveyed conceded that there was at least one household member who engaged in seasonal mining work after the farm work was completed. While some (14%) believed that this link was positive and allowed farmers to reinvest diamond income into their farms, a higher percentage of respondents (38%) were concerned that farm labour had been drastically reduced since youths were being drawn away from agriculture, preferring to be full-time miners.”
“Although the Kimberley Process may be a positive step forward in attempting to redress the serious humanitarian and security problems associated with conflict diamonds, and may have played a role in increasing export earnings for the Sierra Leone government, it has done little to address the poverty and desperate working conditions that small-scale miners must endure on a daily basis.”
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus. Diamonds in the US are used in engagement rings, but where these diamonds come from is a sustainability issue, especially “conflict” diamonds. These diamonds can detract from the community’s self-sustainable abilities and mines could ruin a town’s ability to support itself.
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post. In Kayima, a town in Sierra Leone, 36% believed mining to be ‘a gamble’, and 10% stated that mining had deprived their family of farm labour. A further 8% of the sample conceded that mining was destroying valuable farmland.
Kayima (%) (n=50)
Panguma (%) (n=50)
Proportion of interview sample who claimed to benefit from diamond mining
40
36
Proportion of interview sample who believed miners were an important market to sell produce
12
16
Proportion of interview sample who believed mining to be ‘a gamble’
36
26
Proportion of interview sample who claimed mining had reduced available farm labour
10
10
Proportion of interview sample who believed mining was degrading farm plots
8
14
International aspects of Sierra Leone's diamond-conflict nexus are particularly interesting, and there has been increasing recognition that the implications of the country's illicit diamond activities may not be as localized as they were once believed to be. Reno (1995) has argued that the country's illicit ‘shadow state’ economy, and the local networks that sustain it, are inextricably linked to global networks. Sierra Leonean diamonds have been implicated in regional instability in Liberia, Guinea and Cote D’Ivoire, and also linked to international criminal networks (Davies, 2006). Since September 11, 2001, it has become evident that the illicit diamond trade provides an effective vehicle for international money laundering, and is a potential source of resources for diverse ‘terrorist’ groups (Even-Zohar, 2003; Le Billon, 2006). The recent release of a major Hollywood film has rekindled international concern for ‘blood diamonds’, but progress and attempts to improve the industry, reduce smuggling and use diamond revenues for local development initiatives have received considerably less attention.
Annotation 2 1. Full citation.
Otnes, Cele and Linda M. Scott. “Something Old, Something New: Exploring the Interaction Between Ritual and Advertising.” 2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Cele Otnes – Professor of Business Administration at University of Illinois. PhD in communications from UTenn in1990, worked in the Department of Advertising at Illion and Rutgers University before returning to work at Illinois in business administration. Also wrote Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding and has been published in Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Advertising and Journal of Retailing.
Linda M. Scott – Associate Professor in Art and Design, Communiations and women’s studies. Also wrote Fresh Lipstick. 3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
Advertising plays on the rituals of lives to increase their own profits in a variety of ways 4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out. Direct examples of how the advertisements can play on rituals Examples of specific ad campaigns that utilize these methods Works through advertisement effects on wedding rituals, moves to explanations of how ads play on rituals (defamiliarize, allegories,) and then how rituals directly affect advertising 5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text? “Ritual symbolism abounds in advertising.” “…package designs help transform branded products into ritual props or icons, by temporarily incorporating ritual colors and motifs associated with particular occasions.” “We show that such influences can flow continuously from advertising to ritual as well as from ritual to advertising.” 6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus. Advertisers can use cultural rituals to overcome common sense and drive us into unnecessary consumption. Otnes analyzes how advertisements are affected by the structure of rituals and can affect the future structure of rituals. This isn’t a direct article, just like for the debate papers! Oh boy! Essentially, the article outlines ways that advertisers have influenced weddings in the past, primarily focusing on the engagement ring. 7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post. Ayer creates the “A Diamond is Forever” campaign for the De Beers and lied about the historical love of diamonds for engagement rings. De Beers then controlled the diamond supply to drive costs and profits up, controlling both supply and demand.
“By acquiring a diamond engagement ring, a woman could join the ‘consumption community.’ Of all women who owned such rings and, more importantly, could avoid the alienation and anomic that might result from not receiving one.”
Applied everywhere – in Japan 1968, <5% had diamond engagement rings, by 1981 almost 60% did.
Ads can attempt to shape readers' ritual experience by portraying combinations of artifacts as belonging together in ritual contexts, a tactic similar to the portrayal of consumption constellations, "complementary products, specific brands anc|/or consumption activities used to construct, signify and/or perform a social role" (Solomon and Englis 1994, p. 58). The ad for Service Merchandise (Figure 3) ostensibly serves to educate the engaged couple about the items appropriate to include in their bridal registry. The ad shows many of the standard items that might typically be in the schema for items appropriate for a bridal registry, such as china, picture frames, crystal, and silverware. Interestingly, however, the ad copy expands the bridal registry constellation by suggesting that electronics, sporting goods and tools be included. That suggestion may not only redirect the wedding gift preferences of many engaged couples, but also simultaneously affirms the appropriateness of such gifts in the registry constellation. Furthermore, the last line of copy reads, "We make it easy for family and friends living all over the country to select the perfect gift for you!' The message is directed through the couple (and their selection of Service) io the ritual audience (and their selection of gifts). Thus, for both giver and recipient of the items, the ad affirms the proper constellation of ritual artifacts for the registry, and reinforces the stereotype of items that must be acquired for the social role of "well-outfitted newlyweds' to be fulfilled.
Annotation 3
1. Full citation.
Boden, Sharon. “’Superbrides’: Wedding Consumer Culture and the Construction of Bridal Identity.” Sociological Research Online, volume 6, number 1. http://socresonline.org.uk/6/1/boden.html
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Researcher at University of Leicester, examining the sociology of consumption.
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
The media has aggravated the consumer culture for weddings
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out.
Examines the media portrayal of weddings as lavish “consumer fantasies.”
The wedding is a commodity and the “bridal role” is a “consumer identity.”
The wedding creates a bridal identity which has a split personality, forcing tension and stress into the equation.
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“With the recent licensing of new approved premises for civil marriages (e.g. stately homes, football clubs, zoos – see Haskey’s 1998 report on the imact of the 1994 Marriage Act for further information) combined with the historical secularisation of society, it is true to say that contemporary weddings do not have a fixed, ‘traditional’ nature or meaning.”
“In fact, the celebrity wedding depends for part of its appeal on the couple being ‘like up’ in also marrying and becomes used as one of a number of inclusionary strategies by bridal magazines to generate the sense of a shared commonality among those currently planning their wedding.”
“What we are witnessing through the bridal magazine’s construction of a shared ‘feminine’ consumer identidy is one example of how women are socialised into the role of the bride.”
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus.
Analyzes how women are manipulated into consuming for the bridal industry’s sake and not for tradition’s sake. Furthermore, the bride is forced to take on a new identity, not as herself getting married, but as a bride having a wedding. This wedding will send her into a new social strata – women who have had a wedding. As sad as this sounds, there are women out there who just want to be a bride, not a wife, and this issue is compounded by the magazines selling the image of the bride. This happened due to a need for the bridal identity to shift as more couples move in together before marriage, 1 in 2 marriages end in divorce and people end up remarrying, and so it shifted from innocent, virginal and pure into the consuming bride it is today.
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post.
“Currently, the popular media and its depictions of appropriate and inappropriate wedding consumption heavily influence the wedding industry and the demands of consumers.”
“With the recent licensing of new approved premises for civil marriages (e.g. stately homes, football clubs, zoos - see Haskey's 1998 report on the impact of the 1994 Marriage Act for further information) combined with the historical secularistaion of society, it is true to say that contemporary weddings do not have a fixed, 'traditional' nature or meaning. The wedding nowadays, for example, no longer marks the 'birth' of a couple, since more first marriages are preceded with pre-marital co-habitation than not (approximately 64%, Population Trends Autumn 2000). There is also often a transparent re-ordering of the sequence of marriage then parenthood as it is now not uncommon for couples to celebrate weddings accompanied by their children. To these points we may add the reality of current divorce statistics (approximately one third of all marriages now end in divorce[1]) as well as the remarriage rate (two-fifths of marriages in 1999 were remarriages for either or both partners, Social Trends 2001) - further evidence to challenge the assumption that our own 'big day' will be a once in a lifetime event and that the relationship it celebrates will last forever. Of course, one of the key implications of all this is an erosion of the 'traditional' bridal identity and the ideals of innocence, virginity and purity it signified.”
Annotation 4
1. Full citation.
Waite, Linda J. and Evelyn L Lehrer. “The Benefits from Marriage and Religion in the United States: A Comparative Analysis.” Population and Development Review: Volume 29, Number 2, June 2003. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3115227?seq=4>
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Linda Waite works at the University of Chicago’s Department of Sociology. She studied at Michigan State University and University of Michigan. Her publications can be found here: http://sociology.uchicago.edu/people/faculty/waite.shtml. She mostly writes about marriages
Evelyn L. Lehrer is a professor of economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with a Ph.D. from Northwestern. The long list of her publications can be found here: http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/personnel/vitae/lehrer_cv.pdf. She also mostly writes about economics and marriage.
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
Marriage and religious involvement are good for you and your physical/mental health
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out.
The paper does a literature review sourcing several studies proving the link between marriage and health and longevities
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“To the extent that marriage and religious involvement are selective of people with unobserved characteristics that are conducive to better health, their causal effects on health and longevity would be smaller than suggested by some of the estimates in this literature.”
“Developing themes proposed by Durkheim, we argue that both marriage and religion lead to positive outcomes by providing social support and integration and by encouraging healthy behaviors and lifestyles.”
“The argument from marriage stemming from its integrative influence runs as follows. Marriage implies love, intimacy, and friendship. The social integration and support it thus provides is a key channel through which it leads to improved mental and physical health.
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus.
People want to be married, and this desire, while generally subconscious, does push them towards weddings and fulfilling basic human needs.
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post.
“Married people are less likely than unmarried people to suffer from long-term illness or disability, and they have better survival rates for some illnesses. They have fewer physical problems and a lower risk of death from various causes, especially those with a behavioral component; the health benefits are generally larger for men.”
“Analyses that control for the selection of the psychologically healthy into marriage, and also include a wider range of measures of mental well-being, find that although thtere are difference by sex in the types of emotional responses to marital transitions, the psychological benefits associated with marriage apply equally to men and women.”
“Married couples indeed report higher levels of relationship quality than uncommitted cohabitors and better emotional well-being.”
Annotation 5
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Diana works for the Census Bureau and has also published analysis on America’s Families and Living Arrangements in 2007 and “Understanding Changes in Families and Households Pre- and Post-Katrina,” a talk presented at the 2009 American Sociological Association Meeting.
Tavia is also an employee of the Census Bureau.
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
The main topic is the marriage statistics in the United States in 2009
4. Describe at least three ways the main topic or argument is fleshed out
The article presents the marriage, divorce and widowhood rates of the American population based on the American Community Survey of 2009.
The document also provides lengths of these marriages for statistical purposes and children affected by divorce.
It also provides statistics based on race, wealth, and varying statuses within the community.
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“This report describes marriage, divorce, and widowhood events in the United States using data collected in the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS).”
“The main reason for the addition of these questions was the diminished quality of vital statistics data on marriage and divorce.”
“One of the assets of the large, representative sample of the ACS is the ability to examine geographic variations in demographic characteristics.”
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus
In order to understand the motivations and actions of a group of people, in this case those getting married, you must understand who they are and what important factors may control their decisions, notably age and gender.
7. List at least 2 details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post
The largest percentage of marriages occurred for men and women aged between 25 to 34 years (43.9% and 41.8%, respectively), although the next largest group was the youngest age range at 15 to 24 years (19.5% and 27.9%, respectively)
For men and women, 29.9 and 30.2% respectively were on their second or more marriage
Annual Household Income
Men
Women
Less than $25,000
20 .7
13 .4
$25,000 to $49,999
23 .6
24 .3
$50,000 to $74,999
19 .0
22 .7
$75,000 and over
36 .7
39 .6
Annotation 6
1. Full citation.
“Diamonds and Sustainable Development?” Canadian Arctic Resources Committee, 2010. <http://www.carc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92:diamonds-and-sustainable-development&catid=41:mining-and-sustainability&Itemid=153>
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Since the article was based on a presentation by Karen Wristen, I will briefly flesh her out. She is currently a consultant for non-profit management, but in the past, was the executive director for the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation and studied at York University and the University of Toronto.
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
Diamond mining is an unsustainable part of Canada’s economy and this needs to be addressed and taken care of.
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out.
The report moves through the impacts of the mining industry, including environmental and social impacts. Then the report addresses how the mines do not consider the importance of protecting the environment and how the government is not providing management of the effects of the mining and concludes with recommendations for the mining industry.
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“Although diamond mining is not the worst form of mining in regards to its environmental imact, impacts are already being felt from the two diamond mines currently operating in the Northwest Territory.”
“For diamond mining in Northern Canada to be more sustainable, planners need to have an idea of what values are the most important to protect. This is usually done through a process called land use planning which identifies areas of the land important to local people, and important to the health of the environment.
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus.
Diamond mining is not a positive influence on environments
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post.
One detail used in the presentation was the effects of the Ekati diamond mine on the environment and the social strains on Canadians. The other detail was the problems the Canadians were facing with specific social issues brought on by the mining.
Weddings and marriage are linked so strongly because you cannot have one without the other. But as the wedding day nears, the marriage takes a backseat, but is by no means forgotten. In order to fully examine the matrix of issues regarding the issue, the institution of marriage must be analyzed for its desirability and allure.
There is a legal and political battle that currently brings wedding and marriage to the forefront nearly constantly. There are those fighting for their right to marry, to have weddings. It has been argued that marriage is a basic human right, and there is lots of evidence supporting the benefits of marriage. After all, married people have higher survival rates, fewer physical problems and a lower risk of deaths from harmful behaviors. These statistics apply to men and women. There have also been proven links with greater mental health for married couples, and greater happiness in life is reported by those who are married. Relationship quality has also been established to be better for married couples than couples who cohabit [1]. These facts have been thrown about for years now, and while people rarely get married on the premise that they will live longer, those who are single may think about these benefits of more economic stability and a desire for love and support, which would be provided by marriage.
There are other economic benefits for marriages. Tax breaks for married couples are extremely tempting for older couples. The largest percentage of marriages occurred for men and women aged between 25 to 34 years (43.9% and 41.8%, respectively), although the next largest group was the youngest age range at 15 to 24 years (19.5% and 27.9%, respectively). From this data, it can be seen that women are more likely to marry at a younger age, as 36.6% of men married were over 35, while only 30.3% of women married in 2009 were over thirty-five. Furthermore, 55.7% of men and 59.6% of women married had family incomes over $50,000 per year [2]. The marriage has definitely evolved since its inception. Today, it no longer typically “marks the ‘birth’ of a new couple, since more first marriages are preceded with premarital co-habitation than not (approximately 64%) [3]”
Most couples don’t spuriously decide to get married. Typically, the wedding is preceded by an engagement period, and has been since ancient Egypt. This period was given to couples to evaluate their compatability [4]. This period is typically initiated by the giving of a ring, most notably a diamond ring. The diamond engagement ring was first given in the fifteenth century, but they did not become extremely popular until the 1930s after an advertisement campaign by De Beers, a controlling family in diamonds. To demonstrate the effects of advertisements on the wedding process, a case study of Japanese women proves how much advertising affects a bride’s consumption. In 1968, less than 5% of Japanese women had a diamond engagement ring and by 1981, almost 60% of Japanese women had bought into De Beers’ campaign of their product denoting everlasting love [5]. This malleability of bridal customs has helped contribute to the “recession-proof” industry of weddings. In the pursuit of rings and other trinkets, the ecological and economic impacts on the nations producing these diamonds are often ignored. In Canada, the Ekati diamond mine area has seen the loss of fish and wildlife habitats 200 kilometers downstream. There is also a significant production of greenhouse gases produced from gasoline burning used in the extraction of these valuable rocks. The Canadians have also suffered social strain from the diamond mines in their country in the form of migrant workers, increased substance abuse and family violence and disrupted social patterns from the irregular work hours [6]. Further away from home, there are several African nations that supply the now infamous “blood diamonds.” Aside from the economic impacts of funding rebels, the wealth of diamonds in countries such as Sierra Leone do little to alleviate the crippling poverty experience by natives. These blood diamond networks are far-reaching, and provide a route for money laundering and terrorist groups, and little has been done to bring the revenues legally produced to the people. An analysis of two such communities found that the populations shifted agricultural patterns to feed miners and that 31% of the population felt that mining such diamonds is a gamble for the community, 10% felt that mining reduced their farm labor and 11% felt that mining was degrading farm plots [7]. In the process of separating and purifying gold for the bands, chemicals such as mercury and cyanide are used [8]. Thoughts of such things are usually far from a man’s mind when purchasing a token to prove his love.
After accepting the engagement ring, the bride is caught up in a flurry of activity. A million details begin vying for the up-coming bride’s attention, and even more aggressively, the media. After all, weddings sell. In April, 2 billion people tuned their televisions to the coverage of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding [9]. Furthermore, bridal magazines specifically cater to designing the whims of brides-to-be. Entire shows such as “Say Yes to the Dress” chronicle the selection of a wedding gown, others such as “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding” chronicle the extravagant weddings of a gypsy subculture in England. The wedding in this scenario is the only event in a young woman’s life where she can fully express all of her fantasies. While the average wedding is not nearly as opulent, the average cost of an American wedding is $28,082, with the average dress costing $1,289 [10]. In addition to these costs, the happy couple puts in requests for items in a bridal registry, items they feel they will need in their new home, and anything is up for grabs. Such choices are often influence by ads that create a “schema for items appropriate for the bridal registry [5].” Sharon Boden also concluded that “the popular media and its depictions of appropriate and inappropriate wedding consumption heavily influence the wedding industry and the demands of consumers [3].” An example of this was an ad creating an image of these wants with china, picture frames, crystal and silverware, but then completing itself by “expand[ing] the bridal registry constellation by suggesting that electronics, sporting goods and tools be included. That suggestion may not only redirect the wedding gift preferences…but also simultaneously [affirm] the appropriateness of such gifts in the registry [5].” Then there is a reception for the wedding guests and party, with entertainment. There are cut flowers, which have an ecologic impact on the areas they are grown. Demand for these flowers requires them to be grown in climates around the world, where they use valuable resources and water that could be used in crop production for those local areas. Furthermore, these flowers have a high maintenance cost as they are transported long distances to the bridal bouquet. The wedding is supposed to be the bride’s event of a lifetime, but of couples married in 2009, 30% of them were remarried [2].
After all of the hullabaloo dies down, the honeymoon can begin. 99% of couples with a traditional wedding choose to go on a honeymoon. 63% of these honeymoons are to foreign locales, and 76% of honeymoons require airplane travel and 76.5% require car travel [11]. These are unsustainable methods of transportation. The honeymoon is an indulgence that many use in lieu of a vacation, but if Americans practiced a more leisurely lifestyle for enjoying time with others, the honeymoon would not be seen as such an escape.
Finally, the cultural expectations of a wedding create the couple’s need to demonstrate the potential affluence of a couple or the final expression of childish dreams of the perfect wedding. The wedding is by nature a social and familial event, which is not something many people are willing to compromise on. Marriage is a long standing tradition in almost every culture and religion, but this doesn’t mean that the practice must be equated with indulgence, money, and ridiculous expectations. Women should not be encouraged to forget about the long-term implications for a marriage for the sake of having their dream wedding. This grandiose and elaborate wedding trifecta of engagement rings, honeymooning and the wedding needs to be abandoned in favor of smaller scale weddings and lower-budget tokens of love.
[1] Waite, Linda J. and Evelyn L Lehrer. “The Benefits from Marriage and Religion in the United States: A Comparative Analysis.” Population and Development Review: Volume 29, Number 2, June 2003. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3115227?seq=4
[2] Elliot, Diana B. and Tavia Simmons. “Marital Events of Americans: 2009” American Community Survey Reports: August 2011. < http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acs-13.pdf>
[3] Boden, Sharon. “’Superbrides’: Wedding Consumer Culture and the Construction of Bridal Identity.” Sociological Research Online, volume 6, number 1. http://socresonline.org.uk/6/1/boden.html
[4] Jacks, Matt. “The History of Weddings – Tying the Knot through the Ages.” TheHistoryOf.net: 11 September 2008. <http://www.thehistoryof.net/history-of-weddings.html>
[5] Otnes, Cele and Linda M. Scott. “Something Old, Something New: Exploring the Interaction Between Ritual and Advertising.”
[6] “Diamonds and Sustainable Development?” Canadian Arctic Resources Committee, 2010. http://www.carc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92:diamonds-and-sustainable-development&catid=41:mining-and-sustainability&Itemid=153’
[7] Maconachie, Roy and Tony Binns. “Beyond the Resource Curse? Diamond Mining, Development and Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Sierra Leone. Resources Policy, Volume 32, Issue 3, September 2007. http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy.rpi.edu/science/article/pii/S0301420707000347
[8] Kerlin, Katherine. “Diamonds aren’t Forever – Environmental Problems caused by the diamond trade. “ E: The Environmental Magazine: Sept 2001.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1594/is_5_12/ai_77749316/
[9] Minnicks, Margaret. “Royal Wedding Statistics.” 29 April 2011. <http://www.examiner.com/christian-education-in-richmond/royal-wedding-statistics>
[10] Jaeger, Chris. “Wedding Industry Statistics 2011 American Wedding Study Brides Magazine.” 5 July 2011. <http://weddingindustrystatistics.com/bridal-industry/wedding-industry-statistics-2011-american-wedding-study-brides-magazine/>
[11] “Bridal Market Overview.” http://www.nmoa.org/articles/dmnews/bridalandweddingmarketoverview.htm
Annotation 1
1. Full citation.
Maconachie, Roy and Tony Binns. “Beyond the Resource Curse? Diamond Mining, Development and Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Sierra Leone. Resources Policy, Volume 32, Issue 3, September 2007. http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy.rpi.edu/science/article/pii/S0301420707000347
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Roy works at the University of Bath, has written “Post-Conflict reconstruction and Rebuilding Institutions and Rural Livelihoods in the Eastern Province, Sierra Leone,” “Decentralization, Institutions and Wetland Management in Sierra Leone,” and so on. Wrote a book called “Urban Growth and Land Degradation in Developing Cities: Change and Challenges in Kano, Nigeria.” For more information that I’m not willing to type up because he’s written a lot, visit: http://www.bath.ac.uk/soc-pol/people/rmaconachie.html
Tony is also a publishing fiend, having published over 100 papers and worked on 17 books, listed here: http://www.geography.otago.ac.nz/people/academic/tony_binns/tony_binns_-_publications. He works at the University of Otago in New Zealand.
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
Diamond mining can hurt the development of countries, particularly in Africa, specifically in Sierra Leone.
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out.
Begins with distribution of resources in nations and how it applies to the diamonds in Sierra Leone
Explains a process of diamond extraction known as the Kimberley process and how the benefits could apply to rebuilding the structure and alleviating economic strain.
Was a site of “conflict diamonds.”
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“In considering how diamonds and their trade might be better harnessed for poverty reduction, economic growth and social development, it is vital to remember that policies which regulate diamond extraction and governance often produce highly uneven impacts, with enormous wealth and desperate poverty in precisely the same locations.”
“The other main link between diamonds and agriculture that was reported to have remained largely unchanged since the 1970s was the strong nexus of seasonal work between farming and mining and the associated population mobility. In Panguma, 42% of households surveyed conceded that there was at least one household member who engaged in seasonal mining work after the farm work was completed. While some (14%) believed that this link was positive and allowed farmers to reinvest diamond income into their farms, a higher percentage of respondents (38%) were concerned that farm labour had been drastically reduced since youths were being drawn away from agriculture, preferring to be full-time miners.”
“Although the Kimberley Process may be a positive step forward in attempting to redress the serious humanitarian and security problems associated with conflict diamonds, and may have played a role in increasing export earnings for the Sierra Leone government, it has done little to address the poverty and desperate working conditions that small-scale miners must endure on a daily basis.”
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus.
Diamonds in the US are used in engagement rings, but where these diamonds come from is a sustainability issue, especially “conflict” diamonds. These diamonds can detract from the community’s self-sustainable abilities and mines could ruin a town’s ability to support itself.
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post.
In Kayima, a town in Sierra Leone, 36% believed mining to be ‘a gamble’, and 10% stated that mining had deprived their family of farm labour. A further 8% of the sample conceded that mining was destroying valuable farmland.
International aspects of Sierra Leone's diamond-conflict nexus are particularly interesting, and there has been increasing recognition that the implications of the country's illicit diamond activities may not be as localized as they were once believed to be. Reno (1995) has argued that the country's illicit ‘shadow state’ economy, and the local networks that sustain it, are inextricably linked to global networks. Sierra Leonean diamonds have been implicated in regional instability in Liberia, Guinea and Cote D’Ivoire, and also linked to international criminal networks (Davies, 2006). Since September 11, 2001, it has become evident that the illicit diamond trade provides an effective vehicle for international money laundering, and is a potential source of resources for diverse ‘terrorist’ groups (Even-Zohar, 2003; Le Billon, 2006). The recent release of a major Hollywood film has rekindled international concern for ‘blood diamonds’, but progress and attempts to improve the industry, reduce smuggling and use diamond revenues for local development initiatives have received considerably less attention.
Annotation 2
1. Full citation.
Otnes, Cele and Linda M. Scott. “Something Old, Something New: Exploring the Interaction Between Ritual and Advertising.”
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Cele Otnes – Professor of Business Administration at University of Illinois. PhD in communications from UTenn in1990, worked in the Department of Advertising at Illion and Rutgers University before returning to work at Illinois in business administration. Also wrote Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding and has been published in Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Advertising and Journal of Retailing.
Linda M. Scott – Associate Professor in Art and Design, Communiations and women’s studies. Also wrote Fresh Lipstick.
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
Advertising plays on the rituals of lives to increase their own profits in a variety of ways
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out.
Direct examples of how the advertisements can play on rituals
Examples of specific ad campaigns that utilize these methods
Works through advertisement effects on wedding rituals, moves to explanations of how ads play on rituals (defamiliarize, allegories,) and then how rituals directly affect advertising
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“Ritual symbolism abounds in advertising.”
“…package designs help transform branded products into ritual props or icons, by temporarily incorporating ritual colors and motifs associated with particular occasions.”
“We show that such influences can flow continuously from advertising to ritual as well as from ritual to advertising.”
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus.
Advertisers can use cultural rituals to overcome common sense and drive us into unnecessary consumption. Otnes analyzes how advertisements are affected by the structure of rituals and can affect the future structure of rituals. This isn’t a direct article, just like for the debate papers! Oh boy! Essentially, the article outlines ways that advertisers have influenced weddings in the past, primarily focusing on the engagement ring.
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post.
Ayer creates the “A Diamond is Forever” campaign for the De Beers and lied about the historical love of diamonds for engagement rings. De Beers then controlled the diamond supply to drive costs and profits up, controlling both supply and demand.
“By acquiring a diamond engagement ring, a woman could join the ‘consumption community.’ Of all women who owned such rings and, more importantly, could avoid the alienation and anomic that might result from not receiving one.”
Applied everywhere – in Japan 1968, <5% had diamond engagement rings, by 1981 almost 60% did.
Ads can attempt to shape readers' ritual experience by portraying combinations of artifacts as belonging together in ritual contexts, a tactic similar to the portrayal of consumption constellations, "complementary products, specific brands anc|/or consumption activities used to construct, signify and/or perform a social role" (Solomon and Englis 1994, p. 58). The ad for Service Merchandise (Figure 3) ostensibly serves to educate the engaged couple about the items appropriate to include in their bridal registry. The ad shows many of the standard items that might typically be in the schema for items appropriate for a bridal registry, such as china, picture frames, crystal, and silverware. Interestingly, however, the ad copy expands the bridal registry constellation by suggesting that electronics, sporting goods and tools be included. That suggestion may not only redirect the wedding gift preferences of many engaged couples, but also simultaneously affirms the appropriateness of such gifts in the registry constellation. Furthermore, the last line of copy reads, "We make it easy for family and friends living all over the country to select the perfect gift for you!' The message is directed through the couple (and their selection of Service) io the ritual audience (and their selection of gifts). Thus, for both giver and recipient of the items, the ad affirms the proper constellation of ritual artifacts for the registry, and reinforces the stereotype of items that must be acquired for the social role of "well-outfitted newlyweds' to be fulfilled.
Annotation 3
1. Full citation.
Boden, Sharon. “’Superbrides’: Wedding Consumer Culture and the Construction of Bridal Identity.” Sociological Research Online, volume 6, number 1. http://socresonline.org.uk/6/1/boden.html
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Researcher at University of Leicester, examining the sociology of consumption.
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
The media has aggravated the consumer culture for weddings
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out.
Examines the media portrayal of weddings as lavish “consumer fantasies.”
The wedding is a commodity and the “bridal role” is a “consumer identity.”
The wedding creates a bridal identity which has a split personality, forcing tension and stress into the equation.
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“With the recent licensing of new approved premises for civil marriages (e.g. stately homes, football clubs, zoos – see Haskey’s 1998 report on the imact of the 1994 Marriage Act for further information) combined with the historical secularisation of society, it is true to say that contemporary weddings do not have a fixed, ‘traditional’ nature or meaning.”
“In fact, the celebrity wedding depends for part of its appeal on the couple being ‘like up’ in also marrying and becomes used as one of a number of inclusionary strategies by bridal magazines to generate the sense of a shared commonality among those currently planning their wedding.”
“What we are witnessing through the bridal magazine’s construction of a shared ‘feminine’ consumer identidy is one example of how women are socialised into the role of the bride.”
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus.
Analyzes how women are manipulated into consuming for the bridal industry’s sake and not for tradition’s sake. Furthermore, the bride is forced to take on a new identity, not as herself getting married, but as a bride having a wedding. This wedding will send her into a new social strata – women who have had a wedding. As sad as this sounds, there are women out there who just want to be a bride, not a wife, and this issue is compounded by the magazines selling the image of the bride. This happened due to a need for the bridal identity to shift as more couples move in together before marriage, 1 in 2 marriages end in divorce and people end up remarrying, and so it shifted from innocent, virginal and pure into the consuming bride it is today.
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post.
“Currently, the popular media and its depictions of appropriate and inappropriate wedding consumption heavily influence the wedding industry and the demands of consumers.”
“With the recent licensing of new approved premises for civil marriages (e.g. stately homes, football clubs, zoos - see Haskey's 1998 report on the impact of the 1994 Marriage Act for further information) combined with the historical secularistaion of society, it is true to say that contemporary weddings do not have a fixed, 'traditional' nature or meaning. The wedding nowadays, for example, no longer marks the 'birth' of a couple, since more first marriages are preceded with pre-marital co-habitation than not (approximately 64%, Population Trends Autumn 2000). There is also often a transparent re-ordering of the sequence of marriage then parenthood as it is now not uncommon for couples to celebrate weddings accompanied by their children. To these points we may add the reality of current divorce statistics (approximately one third of all marriages now end in divorce[1]) as well as the remarriage rate (two-fifths of marriages in 1999 were remarriages for either or both partners, Social Trends 2001) - further evidence to challenge the assumption that our own 'big day' will be a once in a lifetime event and that the relationship it celebrates will last forever. Of course, one of the key implications of all this is an erosion of the 'traditional' bridal identity and the ideals of innocence, virginity and purity it signified.”
Annotation 4
1. Full citation.
Waite, Linda J. and Evelyn L Lehrer. “The Benefits from Marriage and Religion in the United States: A Comparative Analysis.” Population and Development Review: Volume 29, Number 2, June 2003. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3115227?seq=4>
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Linda Waite works at the University of Chicago’s Department of Sociology. She studied at Michigan State University and University of Michigan. Her publications can be found here: http://sociology.uchicago.edu/people/faculty/waite.shtml. She mostly writes about marriages
Evelyn L. Lehrer is a professor of economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with a Ph.D. from Northwestern. The long list of her publications can be found here: http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/personnel/vitae/lehrer_cv.pdf. She also mostly writes about economics and marriage.
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
Marriage and religious involvement are good for you and your physical/mental health
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out.
The paper does a literature review sourcing several studies proving the link between marriage and health and longevities
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“To the extent that marriage and religious involvement are selective of people with unobserved characteristics that are conducive to better health, their causal effects on health and longevity would be smaller than suggested by some of the estimates in this literature.”
“Developing themes proposed by Durkheim, we argue that both marriage and religion lead to positive outcomes by providing social support and integration and by encouraging healthy behaviors and lifestyles.”
“The argument from marriage stemming from its integrative influence runs as follows. Marriage implies love, intimacy, and friendship. The social integration and support it thus provides is a key channel through which it leads to improved mental and physical health.
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus.
People want to be married, and this desire, while generally subconscious, does push them towards weddings and fulfilling basic human needs.
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post.
“Married people are less likely than unmarried people to suffer from long-term illness or disability, and they have better survival rates for some illnesses. They have fewer physical problems and a lower risk of death from various causes, especially those with a behavioral component; the health benefits are generally larger for men.”
“Analyses that control for the selection of the psychologically healthy into marriage, and also include a wider range of measures of mental well-being, find that although thtere are difference by sex in the types of emotional responses to marital transitions, the psychological benefits associated with marriage apply equally to men and women.”
“Married couples indeed report higher levels of relationship quality than uncommitted cohabitors and better emotional well-being.”
Annotation 5
- 1. Full citation
Elliott, Diana B. and Tavia Simmons. “Marital Events of Americans: 2009” American Community Survey Reports: August 2011. < http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acs-13.pdf>- 2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Diana works for the Census Bureau and has also published analysis on America’s Families and Living Arrangements in 2007 and “Understanding Changes in Families and Households Pre- and Post-Katrina,” a talk presented at the 2009 American Sociological Association Meeting.Tavia is also an employee of the Census Bureau.
- 3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
The main topic is the marriage statistics in the United States in 2009- 4. Describe at least three ways the main topic or argument is fleshed out
The article presents the marriage, divorce and widowhood rates of the American population based on the American Community Survey of 2009.The document also provides lengths of these marriages for statistical purposes and children affected by divorce.
It also provides statistics based on race, wealth, and varying statuses within the community.
- 5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“This report describes marriage, divorce, and widowhood events in the United States using data collected in the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS).”“The main reason for the addition of these questions was the diminished quality of vital statistics data on marriage and divorce.”
“One of the assets of the large, representative sample of the ACS is the ability to examine geographic variations in demographic characteristics.”
- 6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus
- 7. List at least 2 details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post
The largest percentage of marriages occurred for men and women aged between 25 to 34 years (43.9% and 41.8%, respectively), although the next largest group was the youngest age range at 15 to 24 years (19.5% and 27.9%, respectively)In order to understand the motivations and actions of a group of people, in this case those getting married, you must understand who they are and what important factors may control their decisions, notably age and gender.
For men and women, 29.9 and 30.2% respectively were on their second or more marriage
Annotation 6
1. Full citation.
“Diamonds and Sustainable Development?” Canadian Arctic Resources Committee, 2010. <http://www.carc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92:diamonds-and-sustainable-development&catid=41:mining-and-sustainability&Itemid=153>
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Since the article was based on a presentation by Karen Wristen, I will briefly flesh her out. She is currently a consultant for non-profit management, but in the past, was the executive director for the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation and studied at York University and the University of Toronto.
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
Diamond mining is an unsustainable part of Canada’s economy and this needs to be addressed and taken care of.
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out.
The report moves through the impacts of the mining industry, including environmental and social impacts. Then the report addresses how the mines do not consider the importance of protecting the environment and how the government is not providing management of the effects of the mining and concludes with recommendations for the mining industry.
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“Although diamond mining is not the worst form of mining in regards to its environmental imact, impacts are already being felt from the two diamond mines currently operating in the Northwest Territory.”
“For diamond mining in Northern Canada to be more sustainable, planners need to have an idea of what values are the most important to protect. This is usually done through a process called land use planning which identifies areas of the land important to local people, and important to the health of the environment.
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus.
Diamond mining is not a positive influence on environments
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post.
One detail used in the presentation was the effects of the Ekati diamond mine on the environment and the social strains on Canadians. The other detail was the problems the Canadians were facing with specific social issues brought on by the mining.